The past few weeks have seen freshers and returning students head back to the city and this week was the hotly anticipated freshers week get we thought we would head out to see what really goes on after dark.

Common complaints by residents about disruption left in their wake can be seen on almost all Facebook community groups and tend to centre on what happens in the city overnight - and the ramifications the next morning.

We figured the best way to see if all the complaints are really justified is to walk the street of Canterbury and see what they really get up to in the early hours.

We headed into the city centre at around 1am on September 20 and it’s fair to say we saw a few students looking worse for wear stumbling home early.

Follow our three hour journey below.

Time Line

1am - 2am

1.00am – Kings Mile deserted

With student accommodation at one end of the Kings Mile and pubs at either end we expected there to be some students at least walking into town, but the place was empty.

We walked from the Penny Theatre all the way up into the town centre and didn’t see a soul. What also surprised us was the lack of pavement pizzas (sick puddles).

The only sign of student life was music and noise coming from the windows of Lanfranc House student accommodation that backs onto the Kings Mile, but even that wasn’t excessive.

1.15am – The city was abuzz

When we got into the town centre itself we realised that this was the place to be. There were groups of young people coming out of every alleyway and side street – some were steadier on their feet than others.

Still we didn’t see anyone causing any disturbances or being overly loud, but it was early on in the evening.

1.25am – McDonald's was quiet

The McDonald’s on St George's Street is one that never sleeps, it constantly seems to have a stream of people whatever time of day or night.

With the new McDelivery it also has a stream of mopeds waiting to take a Big Mac and fries across the city.

The queue was small and there were just a handful of people outside.

1.40am – Club Chemistry queues

Queues outside of Canterbury’s most popular nightlife spot Club Chemistry were still pretty long at this point in the night.

There was a lady dressed as a tiger on stilts outside entertaining people in the line and the security seemed to be keeping tight control over everything.

One thing that struck me is how loud the smoking areas outside the front of the club are, you never seem to notice it when you’re out yourself but being sober makes you realise how loudly drunk people talk.

1.50am – Man down

One man was laying on his back near Canterbury bus station, it looked like one pint too many.

A woman was trying to get him up but from what we could hear he seemed perfectly happy to have a little lay down.

He was in good spirits and was back on his feet a few minutes later with the help of some passers-by.